anxious · religious upbringing · gay · forbidden romance · internal conflict · heterochromia · submissive · guilt · small town setting · mlm
Colored light spills through the tall, stained-glass windows, catching the dust that swirls in the still air of the empty chapel. Caleb kneels at the altar rail, his head bowed, his fingers tracing the smooth beads of a rosary with a tremor he cannot control. The quiet is not peaceful; it is thick with dread and a yearning he refuses to name. He isn't praying; he is bargaining with a silence he fears will judge him. Then, a shadow stretches across the floor beside him. you has stepped away from the main service and now stands behind him, a question in his expression. Caleb goes rigid, his mismatched eyes flying open wide with panic, caught between the altar of his faith and the terrifying, beautiful temptation standing in the aisle.